Éamon Ó Cuív on direct provision reform and 2024 end goal

Minister, the question relates to the number of people admitted into direct provision since January 2020 and the number who have left direct provision at that time and the arrangements that have been made for those that remain in direct provision in relation to independent living in line with the programme for government. So you might let us know what's happening in relation to this and whether the numbers are going down or not. Thank you very much, Deputy, for that question. So as of Sunday, the 27th of June of this year, there were 6,465 persons accommodated by IPAS, the International Protection Accommodation Service of my department, in 70 accommodation centres. Of this number, 71%, 4,564 are being accommodated in centres that provide independent living facilities that include at least cooking facilities. A majority of these enjoy the full suite of independent living requirements and 33%, 2,158, have owned or accessed to their accommodation. In the 46 permanent centres, some 74% of the 7,719 bed spaces allow the residents full access to independent living, with 31% of total bed space capacity being in owned or units, where residents have private cooking facilities in self-contained units, such as apartments. In the 24 emergency centres, 9% provide independent living in the form of provision of cooking facilities. In relation to the numbers arriving and leaving, I can confirm that 1,007 persons entered International Protection Accommodation Services in 2020, and 465 persons entered up to the end of June of this year. And between January and May of this year, 1,468 persons formally left the IPAS accommodation. We don't have the numbers up to the end of June just yet. My officials are currently developing a tender process to secure additional accommodation for families with children, couples and single people seeking international protection. This is to ensure my department has adequate capacity and can respond flexibly to increases in demand as they arise and move away from the reliance on emergency accommodation. And the aim of this process is to improve the quality of the accommodation and services offered to international protection applicants and to align more closely with the names of the White Paper and with the national standards. And as the deputy will be aware, independent living is absolutely central to those national standards. Thank you. Mr. Minister, would I be right in thinking that the numbers coming in in the last year and a half have been lower than in previous years? I would have thought that there would have been an opportunity in the last year and a half to decrease radically the number of people in direct provision because no matter how good it is, and I do recognise the progress being made in relation to independent living in particular, but not so much in own door, but at least in that is 33% with own door accommodation. What discussions have you had with the Department of Justice as to how they might expedite actually reducing the numbers of people in direct provision? Thank you. And Tara. Thank you, Deputy. And look, you touch on an important point in that the success of the White Paper that this Government has brought forward is predicated on the ability to process claims for international protection in a far more speedy manner than currently is done, and there's a commitment to that by the Department of Justice in terms of their response to the Catherine Day report. It's something I've engaged extensively with Minister McEntee on, and Minister Brown is currently taking responsibility for this, and I'm meeting him in the near future to discuss this particular issue. I think you're right to say there was a significant drop in the number coming in over the last 16 months, and the same number approximately left. Certainly during the worst of COVID, it wasn't possible to process international protection applicants by the Department of Justice in the same manner. But the Department of Justice is looking at more online and satellite types approach to certainly its initial engagements with international protection applicants, so I hope to see that being maintained post-COVID. I'd have to say I'm very disappointed to hear that the Department couldn't do what the rest of us had to do, the Department of Justice, not your Department, and continuing processing these applications because, you know, most of these processes lend themselves to be done online and all sorts of services have been provided incredibly effectively during this period. And it seems cruel that people are being retained in direct provision because of the inability of the service to actually deal with the applications, and I wish you all the best in your meeting. But I would like to ask the Minister, when do you think we'll get the number, or what is the target for increasing the number of owned-door and independent living? Because you say it's 71% to 33%. What would you hope to achieve between now, we say, and the end of next year, in the next year and a half, in terms of percentages in independent living and owned-door accommodation? Thanks, thanks to the Deputy for his support for the process. In terms of the white paper, we're currently setting out the transition team and the program board, and they will set out a clear set of goals in terms of what we expect to achieve in 2022, 2023, and obviously then by the end of 2024. Right now, there's a procurement process about to be commenced so we can move away from those 24 emergency direct provision centres. Those are the ones where we're least likely to have owned-door accommodation or least likely to have cooking facilities. And that tender process will insist on independent living model. So my goal this year is to end the reliance on emergency accommodation and bring in this new set of direct provision centres that meet the national standards, while at the same time working towards the wider vision of ending direct provision by the end of 2024. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you're welcome. Thank you. Thank you, the speaker for your case.